97021324

At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Gary Forbes: I haven't had a massage in like a year. Smh

Hassan Whiteside: My maid came to the house at 7am she's trippin

Nazr Mohammed: Don't know what I was thinking but I let my daughter convince me to be a vegetarian w/ her for a month. I'm a carnivore by nature. #DamnFool

Stephon Marbury: For all the NBA players out there who need bread during this lockout ask your agent to borrow against the money you have to pay him.

Patrick O'Bryant: seriously? I come to Greece to play during the lockout and now there is a f----- lockout over here?? This s--- is ridiculous. ADKJKSDH!!!

You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.

(Warning: Potential NSFW language in this video, if you find it intelligible.)

During last summer's World Championships in Turkey, Team USA leader Kevin Durant was typically held up as a sign of everything right with basketball. He's humble, kind, and really good at his job. His purity was overblown at times, but the positive assessments were most definitely earned. Durant is a rare person and someone who NBA fans should cherish.

However, we've learned in recent months that Durant is a more complicated figure than the glowing accounts usually suggest. While he is indeed more humble than the vast majority of professional basketball players, he also has more in common with them than many moralists would like to admit. He's as much a product of his environment and era as any other player in the league.

110132274

For all the talk about basketball-related income, franchises in the red, and players losing paychecks, the biggest losers of the NBA lockout have been the arena employees who depend on NBA games for a significant portion of their livelihoods. Whereas even NBA players who live paycheck to paycheck can recoup lost money a few months after they get back to work, arena workers depend on their salaries to maintain a decent standard of living, not a very lavish lifestyle instead of one marginally less impressive.

In a way, the players are at fault for this state of affairs. After all, if they conceded to the owners' demands today, then many Americans would have jobs again. So, as a show of support for the people out of work, Pacers star Danny Granger is going to invite every employee of Conseco Fieldhouse to dinner. Here's the message from his Twitter account (via EOB):

117459517

At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Steve Francis: Uhh ohh the game @ UMD what color shoes should I wear. I have no shoe deal?

Brandon Jennings: Kobe Bryant is the greatest player to ever step between them lines..... That's who I grew up watching so that's who I'm rolling with

Russell Westbrook: This is why I will have no teeth when I get olderlockerz.com/s/147066494

Martell Webster: my wife @mrswebster5 should have her own letter in the alphabet. And yes it should be a vowel. She is that awesome!

Tristan Thompson: In the car with a bunch of grandpas'. They jamming songs from the 80's.

You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.

129027857

The NBA lockout isn't a debate of principles -- it's closer to an endurance contest in which one party tries to pry as many concessions from the other as possible. Media spin plays a big part in that, since the degree to which a side can hold out (i.e. keep the NBA from playing games) depends on public opinion of the righteousness of the cause.

David Stern, 27-year NBA commissioner, has been through enough interviews that he should be a pro at playing the media to his ends. Unfortunately, it appears that he's become a little less smooth in his dotage. During a Friday morning interview with Dan Patrick on his eponymous radio show, Stern claimed that his recent media ubiquity is a direct result of union malfeasance (text via Ben Golliver at EOB):

"We decided it was time to do it because of the circumstances that we find ourselves in," Stern said. "The union has been buffeted by the agents, who literally don't want there to be a union. Why? As [agent] Arn Tellem has said, it's bad for the superstars that he represents. And, oh by the way, the union regulates agents and what they can charge. So of course the agents don't want a union. That causes [NBPA president] Derek Fisher and Billy Hunter to send out letters to the membership, denouncing the agents for trying to change the deal. And it causes them to become more strident, it causes them to say things that are not exactly the way things went down. We have to move out there to correct the record."

Stern didn't bother obscuring the underlying motive of his public campaign: influencing player sentiment.

"I think the players, if the rank-and-file truly understood the dynamic of the negotiations, they would have a completely different picture," Stern said. "And they would say, 'Let's get back to work.'"

The commissioner stopped short of calling Hunter a liar but did say he was responsible for perpetuating what Stern feels is an "inaccurate" representation of the negotiations and the proposals made by the league's owners.

"I think it's fair to say that [Hunter's] depiction of our motives, our offers, the state of the negotiations is inaccurate."

Those responses are condescending, self-serving, one-sided, and generally full of the sort of "we-will-crush-you" self-satisfaction that has defined the league's approach to the lockout. Apart from the fact that it's ridiculous to suggest Stern is only doing interviews because the union has willfully lied -- because, you know, Stern effectively gives an interview every time he makes a public appearance -- it's insulting for him to suggest that the rank-and-file members of the players' union are too stupid or ignorant to know that their interests aren't being protected. Even if that were true, it's awful to condescend so egregiously.

The lockout-inspired run of exhibition games has been full of exciting plays, from the thrilling dunk to the amazing pass to the thrillazing alley-oop. What's best about all of them is that they remind us of the league we're missing. They placate the habit without doing anything to kick it.

Rajon Rondo is one of the most creative players in the league. But, as far as I know, he's never decided to throw a no-look alley-oop over his head from the 3-point line. Which is exactly what he did during a recent charity game. Oh, and Denver Nuggets draftee Kenneth Faried caught the pass and dunked it. Which is cool, too, I guess.

Some would say that Rondo has never thrown a pass like this one in an NBA game because professional defenses actually try, and they would be correct. But that doesn't mean it's not a great play anyway. For one thing, there are only a few people in the entire world who can complete this play under any circumstances. On top of that, even fewer would even think to try it.

If you have spent much time on the Internet over the past few years, you're probably familiar with NMA World Edition, a very important Taiwanese news organization that animates the world's biggest stories in the most ridiculous ways possible. They are probably going to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025.

Because we've all been very patient basketball fans, NMA has put out an informative video explaining the NBA lockout. After the jump, I will attempt to narrate exactly what happens.